Ann, beautiful pictures. I know what you mean about the trees coming down, it almost breaks your heart, but then, some things need to be done, that cannot be changed. You will make the area where the septic was installed into something even more beautiful I am sure, but it surely did look nice with that walkway and all you had. The trees being thinned out will certainly help with vegetative growth that will be so helpful to your bees.

When I look back at the pictures of devastation of property when we had the faller and the excavator come in they almost make me cry, I will miss the dense undergrowth, but there again, the beauty that will be forthcoming with pastures and flowers surpasses the dense undergrowth by no stretch of the imagination. Our property was very wet and swampy because of all the undergrowth and tall deciduous trees that never allowed a speck of sunlight to reach certain parts. But the sun shines and dries the soil and this will all be good. It is hard to put a picture to words, even using pictures to define the scope of ones area, I am going to pick a couple of pictures to try and show the before and afterness of what was done here in our back acreage last spring. It may be shocking, so hold your breath. Great day. Cindi

P.S. I have about 10 pictures that I would like to put on the forum, but I have to find out if that is OK to do, so I probably won't do it until tomorrow morning, after I get approval from John. Great day. C.

Logged

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

I look forward to seeing your pictures, Cindi, but I have to ask - does John mind us posting pictures? I host them myself on my own space, but if he doesn't like it I need to know, I'll tone it down. It's fun posting here and sharing, but I don't want to be a forum hog or anything! :shock:

Ann, I sent a personal mail to John this morning after I put the post on about the pictures. He basically said to "bring it on", he loves the pictures and (I bet everyone enjoys looking at pictures of how others do things on their own land, homes, families, pets). It is a wonderful tool to be able to share our lives with others. He said to post as many as we would like, and he anticipates looking at all his members "stuff". So Ann, bring on the pics......I love to see pics too..

John did say that he thought that maybe it woud be wise to only put a few pictures into each post because he wasn't sure how many could basically be put into a post before they were shall we say "full". So he suggested no more than say 5, so I would keep it to 4 and see what happens.

I function the best in the morning when I have my quiet time before all blinking craziness breaks loose with all the kids around here. So, my time to myself is anywhere from 4:00 AM (depends on when I arise) to 7:00 A.M. That's it. The the kiddy world begins, grandchildren, foster children, nieces and nephews. We have about 18 persons living on our property, in 3 residences, each owning a little of the property in their own way. It is fun, busy and a loving place to be.

I do have time to put on a picture of my 2 grandsons and my 3 nephews that all go to the same school. They are the Bennett boys (2) grandsons and the Zumaeta boys (3) nephews, Chilean father, so they look very dark skinned.

If you want to look at the picture, head off to the family picture forum. Good day Ann, Talk to you soon. Cindi

Logged

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

I use the Ruth Stout no weed no work method lots of horse manure and straw and newspaper plant through the compost works great saves waterkirko

I'm with you Kirk-o. No till. 30x70 is a lot of space, but if you cover mow it close and cover it with 6-8 inches of compost or sawdust or dead leaves, you can plant right in it. We gave up rototilling because it pack the soil underneath the tines. Plus there's all the maintenance and expense of a gasoline engine. You can plan the 30x70 space so that you have 4' wide beds and leave grass in between to walk on. It's much easier to control weeds in 4'ft beds than in a flatland garden.

Here in WI- we don't get around to planting before at the earliest middle of May.

Here in the southwestern part of British Columbia the old standby "planting date is the 24th May". I have through my years of gardening here always have my gardens in by May 1, some things that are prefer the cold like spinach and broccoli go in sooner, probably about the 1 of April.

With the annuals that I plant in my flower gardens, they are safely set in by the 1st of May also. Interesting how so many areas are pretty similar in planting dates. Great day. Cindi

Logged

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

Right, I am anxiously awaiting a reply too. I have an area of grass behind my apiary that I would love to turn to soil to plant another garden. That is where I would like to plant the squashes, melons and pumpkins, they take up so much room that I would love to have an area devoted to these beauties only. Great day. Cindi

Logged

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

Konasdad, are you asking how long before you can plant in ground that's been 'smothered' with newspapers and leaves? The paper needs to be rotted, you can plant as soon as you can till the area and incorporate all the organic matter you used to smother, and the smothered :) I guess that would depend on your climate.

Ann, not good enough answer for me. If you can you you please elaborate on it a bit more?. Are we looking at a couple of weeks or a couple of months, I have no clue about this method and would love to learn more about it. We don't plant our squash plants (I raise them in my greenhouse as transplants) until probably the beginning of June. They are too tender to be set out before that time, the nights can get pretty chilly here still for those curcurbits. Great day. Cindi

Logged

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

If I were going to prepare ground this way I'd do it in the fall and plan on tilling in the spring. So, around here, smothered in October and tilled the first of April or so. I have no experience in a warmer, wetter climate, where things rot faster than they do around here.

Ann, I think that our climates are somewhat similar. If I were to do a garden in this manner, I would probably use about the same dates. For some strange reason I thought that maybe this could be forced much quicker, but upon thinking about it, I doubt it.

It would indeed take the fall and winter to smother and decompose enough to work the ground well.

Starting to think about getting some of the seedlings started for the bees. Most of the plants are sown directly outside the middle of March, but some I start indoors. For instance, the Canary Creeper vine.

If you have room anywhere and can let vines just go, get this plant. It is available to probably any seed companies easily. I could not believe the bees on this vine, right until frost kill. It was amazing. It provides an intensely deep forage for the bees in the late fall when many are done and not producing nectar nor pollen. It is a member of nasturtium family and the seeds can be eaten as well. The seeds if pickled, are somewhat like capers and they are a little spicy and very yummy. Get some seed. YOu will not be disappointed. In one season this plant grew probably about 15 feet or so. I did not measure it, but it grew almost up to the top of our house. I plan on planting it in many places where it can be grown as a ground cover plant. I don't think that it really cares if it goes up or sprawls. It is pretty as well.

If you can't get seed, contact me PM, I have some I could send to you. Great day Cindi.

This is the kind of polllen this bee was still collecting in the beginning of October. Upon observing this picture this bee looks Italian now doesn't it? The three yellow rings. Hmm.

This does not show the entire magnitude of the plant (three seeds set to get this group), but it was big.

Logged

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

Tropaeolum peregrinum, the Canary Creeper. I actually looked at that this past week when I was doing up my seed orders. Thanx for the affirmation! :-D Now that I've got so much sun in my backyard I need to rethink how I garden.

So this Canary Creeper gives nectar also? Does it need much water? I have places I can place them but a lot of those places are a couple of hundred yards from water sources.

Jerry, I have to speak honestly here, I would not want any kind of plant failure by telling a lie.

I do not actually know if the creeper provides nectar, I would certainly imagine so, without a doubt, but I cannot tell you for sure. I know for a fact that the plants provides LOTS of pollen, it was covered with bees in the late summer. I actually didn't even know for a long time that there were bees on it until I was walking by it one day and I heard the bees. It made my head turn to see where the humming bees sounds were coming from. In that part of the garden I always plant the Heliotrope, calendula and sedum, among others. The bees here love these plants too, so I thought that was where the bee sounds were coming from. WRONG. Canary creeper surely.

Now about the water source. I cannot speak for what water table occurs in your area, how hot it is during summer, I am stuck there.

I will tell you about my climate in summertime, maybe this may help you ascertain if you can plant the creeper a couple of hundred yards from a water source. You may need to tell me what types of plants thrive in the area away from the water source, I could probably make a fairly accurate answer.

This summer was considered a drought situation in our normaly fairly wet climate. We did not have rain for the month of July and August, and well into September. That is a long time. I watered my gardens probably only about 3 times during this drought. I am of the belief that the water table is reasonably high. But I don't think that this creeper requires an extremely high amount of water. It is considered a succulent in my eyes, and they actually PREFER to have the drier conditions.

I grew the creeper on the west side of my house. It receives sun from 12:00 PM to sundown, hot, hot, hot. The creeper grew up the side of a white house, hot, hot, hot. The garden slopes to the south, dry, dry, dry.

Our summertime temperatures are probably about 25-28 degrees celsius, sometimes we can go up into the low 30s, but rarely. But on the west side of the house in that garden it is smoking hot, let me tell you.

I think it can be grown anywhere, with conditions dry, not to say that it would probably love some water now and then.

You will have to make the decision from the information that I have provided if the plant would work there or not. Define your climate to me please. Great day. Cindi

P.S. Ann, anyone. This plant provides thousands of seeds, each one encased in a pod that has 3 seeds inside (if memory serves me). It is easy to save the seed and the plant can be yours forever more.

Oh ya, it is an annual, but I guess you figured it out.

Logged

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

Tropaeolum peregrinum, the Canary Creeper. I actually looked at that this past week when I was doing up my seed orders. Thanx for the affirmation! :-D Now that I've got so much sun in my backyard I need to rethink how I garden.

Isn't the latin name for plants a strange one? I use the latin word many times when I refer to plants, other times simply use the plain old laymans terms. Sounds like your yard will be so much better for planting all kinds of new stuff, and yes, have fun. YOu will have to rethink alot of things out in the yard, but what a blast!!!! Great day. Cindi

Logged

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service